Routing of conference participant based on caller recognition

ABSTRACT

Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for routing one or more requests to join or initiate a collaboration conference based on at least an identifier of a requesting device. In one embodiment, a telecommunications network obtains an identifier, such as the telephone number, of a device requesting to join or initiate a collaboration conference. The identifying information is then compared to a database of user accounts maintained by the network. The network may then prompt the user of the requesting device to join a particular conferencing bridge or provide particular conferencing features based on the one or more preferences associated with the user&#39;s account. A response to the prompt may be received and then acted upon by the network to connect the requesting device to a collaboration conference and/or provide the one or more conferencing features to the requesting device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part and claims priority under 35U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Nonprovisional application Ser. No. 13/708,713entitled “IP-BASED CONFERENCING IN A TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK”, whichis incorporated in its entirety herein. This application also claimspriority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No.61/578,794 entitled “SIP-BASED VOIP COLLABORATION”, U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/578,798 entitled “SIP-BASED VOIP COLLABORATION”, U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/578,803 entitled “SIP-BASED VOIPCOLLABORATION”, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/578,807 entitled“SIP-BASED VOIP COLLABORATION” and U.S. Provisional Application No.61/578,810 entitled “SIP-BASED VOIP COLLABORATION” all filed on Dec. 21,2011 and each of which is incorporated by reference in there entiretyherein. This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) toprovisional patent application 61/584,115 titled “CENTRAL CONFERENCINGROUTING SERVICE” and provisional patent application 61/584,122 titled“CENTRAL CONFERENCING ROUTING SERVICE,” both filed on Jan. 6, 2012 andboth of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to systems andmethods that provide for collaboration conferencing with multipleparticipants using devices connected to a telecommunication network,including a VoIP network, and more specifically for routing aconferencing participant based at least on a received calleridentification number.

BACKGROUND

Telecommunication networks provide for the transmission of informationacross some distance through terrestrial, wireless or satellitecommunication networks. Such communications may involve voice, data ormultimedia information, among others. In addition, telecommunicationnetworks often offer features and/or services to the customers of thenetwork that provide flexible and varied ways in which thecommunications are transmitted over the network. For example, sometelecommunication networks provide a conferencing feature that allowsseveral users of the network to communicate at once, rather than asimple person-to-person communication. The number of participants to aconference communication may range from a few users to several thousandusers communicating on the same telephonic and/or data call.

Typically, conferencing communications require participants to theconference to place a telephonic call to a dedicated conferencingnumber. Some networks also require the participants enter a conferencecall code into the keypad of a telephonic device. The conferencingnumber and code are then utilized by the telecommunications network toconnect that participant to a conferencing bridge device. In general, aconferencing bridge is a telecommunications device that hosts theparticipants of a conferencing communication such that the participantscan attend the communication. Thus, the network typically receives thedialed number and conference code from each participant and connects theparticipant to the conferencing bridge. Once connected to the conferencebridge, the participant may take part in the conferencing communication.

It is with these and other issues in mind that various aspects of thepresent disclosure were developed.

SUMMARY

One implementation of the present disclosure may take the form of atelecommunications network comprising at least one conference bridge andat least one routing device. The at least one routing device isconfigured to receive a communication from a user of thetelecommunications network, the communication comprising a request toaccess a collaboration conference, obtain an identifier of acommunication device associated with the telecommunications network andthe user, identify a specific collaboration conference event based onthe identifier of the communication device and connect the communicationdevice to the specific collaboration conference event based on theidentifier of the communication device

Another implementation of the present disclosure may take the form of asystem for initiating a collaboration conference in a telecommunicationsnetwork. The system may include a network interface unit configured toreceive a first communication from a user of a communications network toestablish a collaboration conference on the network, the firstcommunication received from a communication device associated with thecommunications network, an application server in communication with thenetwork interface unit and a computer-readable medium connected to theapplication server configured to store information and instructions. Theinstructions, when executed by the application server, performs theoperations of obtaining an identifier of the first communication deviceassociated with the communications network, the identifier comprising atelephone number of the communication device from which the request isreceived, associating the identifier with an account of the user, theaccount configured to associate the identifier and one or morecollaboration conference preferences with the user, establishing aspecific collaboration conference event based at least on the identifierof the communication device and connecting the communication device tothe specific collaboration conference event based at least on theidentifier of the communication device.

Yet another implementation of the present disclosure may take the formof method for initiating a collaboration conference in atelecommunications network. The method may comprise the operations ofreceiving a request message for access to a collaboration conferencefrom a requester's communication device, obtaining an identifier of therequester's communication device, the identifier comprising a telephonenumber of the requester's communication device from which the request isreceived and obtained through an Automatic Number Identification (ANI)feature of the communications network and associating the identifierwith an account of the requester, the account configured to associatethe identifier with the requester. Further, the method may include theoperations of initiating a specific collaboration conference event basedat least on the identifier of the requester's communication device andconnecting the requester's communication device to the specificcollaboration conference event based at least on the identifier.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary Voice over InternetProtocol (VoIP) operating environment, including a central conferencingrouting server, in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a conference bridge configured tohost one or more conferencing communications.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method for the conferencing routing server ofthe network of FIG. 1 to receive a request from one or more participantsto join a collaboration session and route the participants to the properconference bridge.

FIG. 3B is a flowchart illustrating a method for a central conferencingrouting server to receive a request for a collaboration conference andassociating a master identification number to the collaborationconference.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating several components of a centralconferencing routing server.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating features of an IP-basedconference bridge for collaboration conferences hosted by the conferencebridge.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a computing system whichmay be used in implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method for a telecommunications network toroute a request to join a collaboration session based at least on anidentifier of the requesting device.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method for a telecommunications network tocollect preference information of a requesting device for use in routinga request based on an identifier of the requesting device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computerprogram products, and the like, for collaboration conferencing withmultiple participants over a communications network, and morespecifically for a conferencing system utilizing one or more InternetProtocol (IP)-based telecommunication devices. The term “collaborationconferencing” as used herein includes any type of multimediaconferencing over a network, such as audio conferencing, web or internetconferencing and multi-site video conferencing. In one embodiment, theconferencing system may utilize Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) toroute collaboration conferences within the telecommunications network.The SIP-based routing provides for the exchanging of information fromone device of the conferencing system to another that is not availablein non-IP based conferencing systems. Thus, through the use of IP-basedtelecommunication devices, the network provides beneficial features forcollaboration conferencing.

In addition, aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods,computer program products, and the like, for routing one or morerequests to join or initiate a collaboration conference based on atleast an identifier of a requesting device. In one embodiment, atelecommunications network obtains an identifier, such as the telephonenumber, of a device requesting to join or initiate a collaborationconference. Obtaining of the telephone number of the requesting devicemay occur through an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) featureavailable to some telecommunications networks. The identifyinginformation is then compared to a database of user accounts maintainedby the network. In one embodiment, the database may include one or morecollaboration conferencing preferences of a user associated with theaccount. The network may then prompt the user of the requesting deviceto join a particular conferencing bridge or provide particularconferencing features based on the one or more preferences associatedwith the user's account. A response to the prompt may be received andthen acted upon by the network to connect the requesting device to acollaboration conference and/or provide the one or more conferencingfeatures to the requesting device. In this manner, the network bypassesrequesting identification directly from the requesting device and,instead, can route the user to a particular conference based on theuser's account information.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary operating environment 100 for hostingconference collaboration communications between multiple participants.The environment 100 provides for establishing communication sessionsbetween network users. With specific reference to FIG. 1, theenvironment 100 includes a VoIP network 102, which may be provided by awholesale network service provider. However, while the environment 100of FIG. 1 shows a configuration using the VoIP network 102, it should beappreciated that portions of the network 102 may include non IP-basedrouting. For example, network 102 may include devices utilizing timedivision multiplexing (TDM) or plain old telephone service (POTS)switching. In general, the network 102 of FIG. 1 may include anycommunication network devices known or hereafter developed.

The VoIP network 102 includes numerous components such as, but notlimited to gateways, routers, and registrars, which enable communicationacross the VoIP network 102, but are not shown or described in detailhere because those skilled in the art will readily understand thesecomponents. More relevant to this description is the interaction andcommunication between the VoIP network 102 and other entities, such asthe one or more customer home or business local area networks (LANs)106, where a participant in a conference will connect with the systemfor the conference.

Customer network 106 can include communication devices such as, but notlimited to, a personal computer or a telephone 110 connected to arouter/firewall 114. Although shown in FIG. 1 as computer 110, thecommunication devices may include any type of communication device thatreceives a multimedia signal, such as an audio, video or web-basedsignal, and presents that signal for use by a user of the communicationdevice. The communication and networking components of the customernetwork 106 enable a user at the customer network 106 to communicate viathe VoIP network 102 to other communication devices, such as anothercustomer network and/or an analog telephone 115, 120. Components of thecustomer network 106 are typically home- or business-based, but they canbe relocated and may be designed for easy portability. For example, thecommunication device 110 may be wireless (e.g., cellular) telephone,smart phone, tablet or portable laptop computer.

The customer network 106 typically connects to the VoIP network 102 viaa border network 122, such as one provided by an Internet ServiceProvider (ISP). The border network 122 is typically provided andmaintained by a business or organization such as a local telephonecompany or cable company. The border network 122 may providenetwork/communication-related services to their customers. In contrast,the communication device 120 accesses, and is accessed by, the VoIPnetwork 102 via a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 126 operatedby a local exchange carrier (LEC). Communication via any of the networkscan be wired, wireless, or any combination thereof. Additionally, theborder network 122 and PSTN 126 may communicate, in some embodiments,with the VoIP Network 102 through a media gateway device (130, 132). Forease of instruction, only three communication devices 110, 115, 120 areshown communicating with the VoIP network 102; however, numerous suchdevices, and other devices, may be connected with the network, which isequipped to handle enormous numbers of simultaneous calls and othercommunications.

In general, a request for a collaboration conference over the VoIPnetwork 102 is initiated by a requester through one of the communicationdevices 110, 115, 120 associated with the network. As used herein, theterm “collaboration conference” includes any type of collaborationbetween three or more users of a communication network. For example, thecollaboration conference may include audio collaboration, videocollaboration, web collaboration, a combination of any of the above, andthe like. For ease of instruction, the collaboration conferencesdiscussed herein are generally made in reference to an audio conference,although any type of collaboration conference over a telecommunicationsnetwork is envisioned with respect to the present disclosure. Similarly,although FIG. 1 illustrates some of the communication devices 115, 120as telephonic devices, the communication devices may be any type ofcommunication device, including personal computers, cellular phones andthe like.

Upon receipt of the request for a collaboration conference, the network102 routes the request to a routing device 140 or routing devicesintegrated within the network 102. However, it should be appreciatedthat the routing device 140 may be a part of the network 102, may beseparate from the network, or may have portions deployed in the networkand out of the network. In addition, the routing device 140 may beresident on one or more components of the VoIP network 140, includingseveral instances of the routing device 140 integrated throughout thenetwork 140. Further, although only a single instance of a routingdevice 140 is illustrated in FIG. 1, any number of routing devices maybe present in the network 102.

To transmit the request to the network, the requester uses thecommunication device 110, 115, 120 to enter a conference specifictelephone number or access port. The routing device 140 receives therequest to begin a collaboration conference or join an existingconference. In response, and described in more detail below, the routingdevice 140 may route the one or more requests to one of severalconference bridges 142, 144 associated with the VoIP network 102 forhosting of the collaboration conference. Although only two conferencebridges 142, 144 are shown in FIG. 1, it should be appreciated that anynumber of conference bridges may be associated with the network 102 forhosting collaboration conferences.

In general, the conference bridges 142, 144 provide a hosting site for acollaboration conference between a plurality of users of the network102. Thus, conference bridge A 142 may host a collaboration conferencewhile conference bridge B 144 may host an additional collaborationconference. In particular, conference bridge A 142 is connected to thecommunications network 102 through a media gateway 133 similar to themedia gateway disclosed above. This configuration may be utilized whenthe conference bridge 142 is a time division multiplex (TDM) bridge.Conference bridge B 144 is internal to the VoIP network 102 throughwhich the communications of the conference are transmitted. Thisconfiguration is utilized for Internet Protocol (IP) based bridges andis generally described in more detail below.

One particular network and/or conference bridge platform supported bythe network configuration 102 of FIG. 1 is a Session Initiation Protocol(SIP) based network. For example, conference bridge B 144 may be aSIP-based conference bridge. Such IP-based components may provideadditional conferencing features to the network by providing informationconcerning the collaboration conference in a header of a messagetransmitted through the network such as an identification of thecollaboration conference, video integration, Uniform Resource Identifier(URI) based routing and conference integration, conference accesscredentials for authentication and permission to enter the requestedconference. SIP-based conference bridges may also provide highdefinition audio, additional security features and transitions betweencollaboration conferences without having to redial into the system. Ingeneral, because components operating utilizing SIP can exchangeinformation within a header, many additional features for acollaboration conference can be offered to participants on a SIP-basedconference bridge. In addition, SIP-based devices may utilize many ofthe advantages of information exchange within the header whencommunicating with TDM-based network devices.

To connect to a collaboration conference, each participant to theconference may be routed to the same conference bridge 144 for theduration of the conference. The conference bridge 144, in turn, providescommunication ports for each participant such that each participant canhear or otherwise participate in the collaboration conference. Anyconference bridge known in the art or hereafter developed may beintegrated into the system 100 of FIG. 1 for hosting a collaborationconference, including IP-based conference bridges. In addition, the term“conference bridge” or “bridge” includes any component of acommunication network that provides an access point to one or more usersof the network for a collaboration conference. For example, “conferencebridge” may also include such devices as a media server device, agateway server device or the like as configured within the network 102.

In some instances, the conference bridge 144 or routing device 140, uponreceipt of the request to initiate or join a collaboration conference,executes an application that queries the requester to enter an accesscode number that the requester enters into the communication device 110,115, 120. With this information, the network 102 determines that therequester intends to initiate or join a collaboration conference androutes the request to a conference bridge, as explained in greaterdetail below. However, as also explained in more detail below withreference to FIGS. 7 and 8, the network 102 may also be configured toautomatically determine an identity of a requesting device and route therequesting device to the conference bridge based at least on therequesting device identity, removing the query to the requester to enteran access code number. In addition, one or more conferencing preferencesmay also be applied to a collaboration conference based on the identityof the requesting device as determined by the network 102.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary IP-based conferencebridge device that may be utilized in the network configuration 100 ofFIG. 1. The conference bridge 202 comprises an application server 208and a digital signal processing (DSP) component 206. In general, theapplication server 208 of the conference bridge 204 communicates withone or more applications of the network to establish the collaborationconference. In addition, the conference bridge may include a networkinterface unit 210 that is configured as a proxy between the conferencebridge 204 and the network. In general, the application server 208includes one or more applications that can be executed by the conferencebridge 202 to perform many of the functions described herein for theconference bridge. In addition, the network interface unit 210 receivesinformation and/or instructions from the network 202 to route andconnect a collaboration conference communication for that particularbridge. The network interface unit 210 connects directly to the core ofthe network 100 to receive the communications of the participants andconnects each participant to each other to establish the collaborationconference. The network interface unit 210 may also initiate one or moreof the applications stored in the application server for execution bythe conference bridge.

The conference bridge 202 may receive a request from the network toconnect a requester with a hosted conference. The request may bereceived through a signaling protocol, such as through the signal planeof a SIP-based communication. In response, the application server 208may provision one or more ports for connection to the requester'scommunication. The app server 208 may then signal to the network 102that the ports are available, at which point the data or audio portionof the communication may be routed to an available port in theconference bridge 202. In this manner, the handshaking between thenetwork and the conference bridge 202 may occur over the signaling planeof the IP-based protocol separate from the data or audio portion, knownas the real-time transport protocol (RTP) plane, of the communicationrequest. A more detailed description of the method through which arequest is routed to a conference bridge 202 is included below withreference to FIG. 3.

In a SIP-based implementation of the network 102 and conference bridge144, the routing of the request to the conference bridge may include thetransmission of one or more SIP-based commands, with each commandincluding a header with information concerning the routing of therequest. For example, the network 102 may route a request to the routingdevice 140. In one particular embodiment, the request is a SIP-basedcommand and includes an identifier of the requester in the headerportion of the command. The requester identifier may be any characterbased identifier, including telephone number, name of the requester,name of a group of company associated with the requester, or otheridentifier. In response, the routing device 140 selects a conferencebridge that is hosting or will host the collaboration conferenceidentified in the request. The routing device 140 then issues a SIPrefer command to route the request from the ingress network of therequester to the selected conference bridge. The SIP refer command mayinclude, among other information, an identification of the conferencebridge in the header of the command. In response, the network thenroutes the requester's request to the conference bridge for connectionto the collaboration conference. The operation of the routing device 140and the conference bridge 144 are described in more detail in relationto FIG. 3.

In this manner, the network 100 may be utilized by one or moreparticipants to a collaboration or conferencing communication hosted ona conference bridge 142, 144. In particular, FIG. 3 is a flowchart of amethod for the routing device 140 of the network 102 to receive arequest from one or more participants to join a collaboration sessionand route the participants to the proper conference bridge 142, 144through which the collaboration is hosted. In general, the operationsdescribed in relation to the flowchart of FIG. 3 are performed by one ormore components of the routing device 140 as part of thetelecommunications network 102.

Beginning with operation 302, a participant to a conferencecommunication may dial into or otherwise contact the network to join theconference using a communication device 110, 115 and/or 120. Forexample, in one embodiment, the participant may dial a conference numberand/or enter a conference code to access the collaboration conference.In another embodiment, the participant dials into the network utilizinga communication device 110, 115 and/or 120 and, based on the telephonenumber or other identifying feature of the communication device, thenetwork routes the participant to the collaboration conference. Ingeneral, the media gateway 130, 132 or other switching device routes therequest from the participant to the routing device 140 through thenetwork 102. In FIG. 1, the request is illustrated by the dashed linebetween the media gateway 130, 132 and the routing device 140. As shouldbe appreciated, in some IP networks, the request may be a SIP-basedcommand routed to the routing device 140 on a signaling plane and doesnot include the audio portion of the communication. The request is thenreceived by the routing device 140, as indicated by operation 302 ofFIG. 3.

Upon receipt, the routing device 140 determines, in operation 304, whichof the available conference bridges 142, 144 associated with the network102 that is hosting or will host the collaboration conference requestedby the participant. The routing device 140 may utilize several factorsto determine which conference bridge 142, 144 hosts the collaborationconference. For example, the routing device 140 may utilize anidentifier of a requesting device to route the participant to aconference bridge 142, 144. In addition, the routing device 140 maycommunicate with one or more of the conference bridges 142, 144associated with the network 102 in operation 304. This communicationbetween the routing device 140 and the conference bridges is illustratedby the dashed lines between the routing device and the conferencebridges in FIG. 1. Further, in the embodiment in which the conferencebridge 144 is within the network 100, the routing device 140 wouldcommunicate directly with the conference bridge without going through amedia gateway device 133.

In one embodiment, the routing device 140 communicates particularly withthe app server component 208 of the conference bridge 202 to determinethe appropriate collaboration bridge and to establish the collaborationconference. The app server component 208 of the conference bridge 202may provide any information concerning the conference bridge to therouting device 140, including number and types of available ports, thetechnical capabilities of the conference bridge, current collaborationconferences being hosted by the conference bridge, and the like. In theSIP-based conference bridge embodiment, the routing device 140 wouldcommunicate with the app server 208 through the network interface unit210. The app server 208 then provisions the requested ports and notifiesthe routing device 140 when such ports are available for thecollaboration conference. In addition, the app server 208 provides theinformation of the conference bridge 144 that may be utilized by therouting device 140 to determine which conference bridge will host thecollaboration conference.

In operation 306, the routing device 140 requests an open communicationport from the conference bridge 144 identified in operation 302. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 2, the conference bridge 202 may utilize a portin the DSP component 206 of the conference bridge in response to therequest sent by the routing device 140. The open port in the DSPcomponent 206 allows the participant to connect to the collaborationconference hosted by the conference bridge 202 and participate in theconference. In addition, the conference bridge 202 may transmit anacknowledgement to the routing device 140 from which the requestoriginated to indicate that the requested communication is open. Again,in IP-based networks, the request for available ports andacknowledgement may occur on a separate communication signal than theaudio or video portion of the collaboration communication. Further, aSIP-based network, the request may include certain information in theheader of the request, such as the master ID number and/or the number ofrequested ports. The request made by the routing device 140 to theconference bridge is illustrated in FIG. 1 as the dashed line from therouting device to the media gateways associated with each conferencebridge.

In operation 308, the routing device 140 receives the acknowledgementmessage from the conference bridge 144. In one embodiment, theacknowledgement message contains information that identifies the openport to the routing device 140. For example, in the SIP-basedembodiment, the acknowledgment may include the IP address of theconference bridge in the header of the message. In response to receivingthe acknowledgement message, the routing device 140 routes theparticipant's communication to the open port in the conferencing bridge144 in operation 310. In one embodiment, the routing device 140facilitates the communication to the conference bridge 144 such that theaudio portion of the communication from the participant is no longerrouted through the routing device. For example, in a network 102 thatutilizes Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), the routing device 140 mayissue a “SIP Refer” command to route the participant communication tothe conference bridge 144, effectively removing the routing device fromthe communication flow. This refer message may include the IP address ofthe selected conference bridge in the header such that the network canroute the communication to the selected conference bridge. Theconnection of the communication bypassing the routing device isillustrated in FIG. 1 as the solid line connecting the media gateway 130associated with the participant's telephonic device 120 and the mediagateway associated with conference bridge 144. Thus, through the use ofthe method outlined in FIG. 3, the routing device 140 may receive arequest from a participant of a collaboration conference and route theparticipant to the proper conference bridge that hosts the specificcollaboration conference. In a similar manner, collaboration conferenceparticipants may be routed to media gateway 133 and conference bridge A142 such that multiple conferences may be occurring simultaneouslythrough the network 102 on multiple conferencing bridges 142, 144.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating several components of a routingdevice 140 that may be implemented on the network 100 of FIG. 1. In oneembodiment, the routing device 140 of FIG. 4 may be referred to as aCentral Conferencing Routing Server (CCRS) as part of atelecommunication network. The components outlined may be implemented byone or more processors executing one or more computer instructionsstored in a computer-readable medium. Examples of systems that mayexecute or implement the components are provided below with reference toFIG. 6. Also, as mentioned above, the components of the routing device140 may be located on any number of computing devices within thenetwork, on any number of computing devices outside of the network,and/or a combination of both.

The routing device 402 may include a database 404 configured to storeinformation concerning an associated network, one or more customers orusers of the network 416, identification numbers 414, and/or any otherinformation useful by the routing device in routing, billing, loadbalancing, disaster recovery and the like for collaboration conferencingcommunications. For example, the database 404 may store identificationnumbers 414 for individuals or groups of users to the network who haveaccess to a collaboration conference feature. Associated with theidentification numbers may be one or more telephone numbers, accesscodes, communication device identifications, master identifications androuting rules 412 associated with the users. In addition, the database404 may store one or more conferencing preferences associated with oneor more accounts that may aid the routing device 402 in determining aconference bridge and/or one or more conferencing features to apply to acollaboration conference based on an identifier of a requesting device.The database 404 may also store information associated with the routingrules 412 and handling of collaboration conferencing, such as acceptedcommunication devices, welcoming messages and operational rules forconducting the collaboration conference. In general, any informationthat may be utilized by the routing device to route a collaborationcommunication and conduct the collaboration conference may be stored inone or more databases associated with the routing device.

The routing device also includes a web server 406 or web applicationthat utilizes one or more applications stored in an application server408 to execute the one or more applications. For example, the web server406 may include one or more application programming interfaces (APIs)that execute any number of stored applications to perform the operationsdescribed herein. The web server 406 may also enable the provisioning ofthe databases 404 of the routing device by the application server 408.In addition, the routing device may include a network interface unit 410as a proxy for receiving any type of information and/or instructionsfrom the network 102 to route the communication. The network interfaceunit 410 may also initiate one or more of the applications stored in theapplication server or database for execution by the routing deviceand/or receive a request from the telecommunications network to initiatea collaboration conference.

Through the use of the described components, the routing device 402provides added flexibility and features to collaboration conferencingnot previously available. For example, because each collaborationconference request is routed through the routing device or system ofrouting devices, routing rules may be applied to a block of relatedrequesters identified by a master ID number or customer number, removingthe need to update the routing rules for each member associated with themaster ID or customer number. In addition, the database 404 of therouting device 402 may maintain a control engine or state of aparticular routing device that determines which conference bridge acollaboration conference occurs.

In one embodiment, the routing device 402 may perform the operations ofthe flowchart of FIG. 3B. In particular, the routing device 402 receivesa request to establish a collaboration conference at the networkinterface 410 in operation 352. The request may include informationconcerning the requestor, such as requestor's telephone number andaccess code number. However, although the operations of FIG. 3B aredescribed in reference to the request comprising the requestor'stelephone phone number and access code number, this is but one exampleof the information used by the routing device to identify the requester.For example, the request may include an identification of therequester's communication device in the request header, such as a textstring of the requester's personal computer. In another example, therequester's name may be used as the identifier of the requester in therequest. Thus, any operation described herein utilizing the requester'stelephone number and access code may be applied to other informationcontained in the request. For ease of instruction, however, the exampleof the telephone number and access code number is used.

Upon receiving the request, the application server 408, in concert withthe web server 406, utilizes the requestor's telephone number and accesscode number to possibly determine a group ID number for the requester inoperation 354. In particular, with the requester's information, theapplication server 408 accesses a lookup table stored in the database404 to match the telephone number and code access number to the group IDnumber. In some instances, it is advantageous to associate a group IDnumber to a group of users of the collaboration conference system. Forexample, through the group ID, one or more routing rules may be appliedto the entire group without the need to provide a routing rule for eachindividual member of the group. In some instances, the group ID numbermay be associated with a customer ID number such that each memberassociated with a customer ID number is given the same group ID numberand alterations to the customer's account with the network can beapplied to each group member through alterations to routing rulesassociated with the group ID number.

In operation 356, the application server 356 may also associate a masterID reference or number to the collaboration conference request andstores the master ID reference or number in the database 404. The masterID reference or number is utilized by the network to track thecollaboration conference and the participants to the conference and maybe associated with the requester's information. With the master IDnumber associated with the request, the application server 408 againaccesses the database 404 to determine a state of the collaborationconference. In general, if the collaboration conference has beenestablished on a conference bridge (such that the requester is aparticipant to the collaboration conference and not the initiator), thedatabase 404 includes an identification of the conference bridge onwhich the collaboration conferencing is hosted. Alternatively, if therequest is to initiate a new collaboration conference, the databaseincludes a notification the request is a request for a new collaborationconference, at which point the application server routes the request toa master CCRS device that executes a master control engine applicationto determine which conference bridge will host the conference. In thismanner, the components of the CCRS 402 receive the request to join orinitiate a collaboration conference and route the request to the properconference bridge.

As mentioned above, the database 404 may include a subscriberinformation table 414 that associates information of the requester (suchas a telephone number, access code number or other identification orreference of a requestor) to a group ID number for the routing devicesystem. Thus, several different requester references can be associatedwith the same group ID number, such as a customer number. In addition,one or more routing rules 412 can be associated with a group ID numberin the database 404. For example, one routing rule 412 may restrict allcollaboration conferences for a particular group ID number to aparticular conference bridge. This removes the need to manually changethe routing rules for each individual requester for all of the membersof a particular group ID number. Further, the database 404 of therouting device 402 may be utilized by a control engine 418 of therouting device system to store information 416 utilized by the controlengine, such as associating a master ID number of a collaborationconference with an ID of the conference bridge on which the conferenceis hosted, the status of a collaboration conference 420, the start timeof the collaboration conference, the participant count of theconference, the maximum number of participants that have attended theparticular conference, and the like. In general, the database 404 mayinclude any information concerning collaboration conferences hosted bythe telecommunications network.

The use of the SIP-based conference bridge 144, and in particularthrough the capability to pass information in a header of the SIP-basedcommand, provides several advantages related to collaborationconferencing in a telecommunications network. Some of such features ofthe SIP-based conference bridge 502 are illustrated in FIG. 5. Forexample, the conference bridge 502 may provide reservationlessconferencing 504 between the multiple users of the system. This featureenables users to set up collaboration conferences dynamically such thatthe session is “always on” or available. This may remove the need toestablish a new session whenever a new collaboration conference isdesired. Similarly, the SIP-based collaboration conferencing allows forswitching from one conference to another without the necessity ofestablishing a new session. In particular, because the SIP-basedcommands may contain an identification of the requester in the headerportion of the command, the requester's communication through thenetwork is not necessarily tied to a dialed number. Rather, the headeridentifier in a SIP-reinivite command allows the requester to beshuttled between destination conferences as identified within the headerof the SIP-based commands.

Another feature provided by the SIP-based collaboration conferencebridge 502 includes a web-based moderator control 506, generally througha graphical user interface (GUI) accessed through the moderatorscomputer. The moderator control 506 may allow a moderator of acollaboration session to control several features and the overall flowof the collaboration session. For example, the control 506 may provideinformation on the participants to the session, may allow the moderatorto control the features available to which participant, establish achairperson to the collaboration, control the view that each participantsees on their respective computers, mute one or more participants,disconnect one or more participants, etc. This feature is possible withthe SIP-based conference bridge as an identifier of the collaborationconference can be passed in the header portion of the SIP command. Thus,the audio and/or video packets can be tied to or otherwise associatedwith the web-based packets such that the collaboration conference caninclude a web-based moderator control in a manner that providesassociation between the various parts of the collaboration conference.

Similarly, the SIP-based conference bridge 502 may allow forsub-conferencing 514 accessed and activated through the moderatorcontrol 506. Sub-conferencing 514 allows for the creation of one or moresmaller collaborations from the participants of a larger collaboration.This feature may be activated by the moderator through the moderatorcontrol 506 or by a user through another control feature. In general,any configurable feature or information of the collaboration process maybe made available to the moderator, and controlled, through theweb-based moderator control 506. Similarly, the conference bridge 502may provide a web-based operator assistance tool 508 that provides aidand technical support to moderators or users of the IP-basedcollaboration tool. Also, the SIP-based conference bridge 502 mayinclude a phone-based participant control feature. This feature may besimilar in use to the dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signaling oftraditional non-IP based conference bridge that allow a participant topress one or more buttons on the participant's phone to control aspectsof the collaboration conference.

In addition, SIP-based conference bridges 502 provide high definitionaudio and video signals 510 for increased quality of collaborationconferences. In general, IP-based telecommunication devices have thecapability of higher quality audio and video transmission such that highdefinition audio and video signals may be provided by the SIP-basedconference bridge 502.

Security 512 measures may also be provided in the SIP-based conferencebridge 502. Such security may allow for support for law enforcementrequirements under the Commission on Accreditation for Law EnforcementAgencies (CALEA) guidelines. Additionally, the collaboration tool 502may include fraud monitoring, encryption of command messages and controlto ensure proper use of the conference bridge.

In addition to the additional features a SIP-based conference bridge 502provides, the use of SIP commands may also be used to transmitinformation concerning one or more collaboration conferences to aid inthe establishing and hosting of the conferences. For example,identification of the participants to a collaboration conference may beincluded in the header portion of a SIP command. Other informationincludes a conference identifier, the role of a requester (moderator orparticipant) and other information to aid in transmission of themultimedia signals of the conference.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computing deviceor computer system 600 which may be used in implementing embodiments ofthe present invention. The computer system (system) includes one or moreprocessors 602-606. Processors 602-606 may include one or more internallevels of cache (not shown) and a bus controller or bus interface unitto direct interaction with the processor bus 612. Processor bus 612,also known as the host bus or the front side bus, may be used to couplethe processors 602-606 with the system interface 614. Processors 602-606may also be purpose built for processing/mixing media data, such asaudio or video components of a media stream, such as a digital switchprocessor. System interface 614 may be connected to the processor bus612 to interface other components of the system 600 with the processorbus 612. For example, system interface 614 may include a memorycontroller 616 for interfacing a main memory 616 with the processor bus612. The main memory 616 typically includes one or more memory cards anda control circuit (not shown). System interface 614 may also include aninput/output (I/O) interface 620 to interface one or more I/O bridges orI/O devices with the processor bus 612. One or more I/O controllersand/or I/O devices may be connected with the I/O bus 626, such as I/Ocontroller 628 and I/O device 660, as illustrated.

I/O device 660 may also include an input device (not shown), such as analphanumeric input device, including alphanumeric and other keys forcommunicating information and/or command selections to the processors602-606. Another type of user input device includes cursor control, suchas a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicatingdirection information and command selections to the processors 602-606and for controlling cursor movement on the display device.

System 600 may include a dynamic storage device, referred to as mainmemory 616, or a random access memory (RAM) or other computer-readabledevices coupled to the processor bus 612 for storing information andinstructions to be executed by the processors 602-606. Main memory 616also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediateinformation during execution of instructions by the processors 602-606.System 600 may include a read only memory (ROM) and/or other staticstorage device coupled to the processor bus 612 for storing staticinformation and instructions for the processors 602-606. The system setforth in FIG. 6 is but one possible example of a computer system thatmay employ or be configured in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

According to one embodiment, the above techniques may be performed bycomputer system 600 in response to processor 604 executing one or moresequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 616.These instructions may be read into main memory 616 from anothermachine-readable medium, such as a storage device. Execution of thesequences of instructions contained in main memory 616 may causeprocessors 602-606 to perform the process steps described herein. Inalternative embodiments, circuitry may be used in place of or incombination with the software instructions. Thus, embodiments of thepresent disclosure may include both hardware and software components.

A machine readable medium includes any mechanism for storing informationin a form (e.g., software, processing application) readable by a machine(e.g., a computer). Such media may take the form of, but is not limitedto, non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media includesoptical or magnetic disks. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, suchas main memory 616. Common forms of machine-readable medium may include,but is not limited to, magnetic storage medium (e.g., floppy diskette);optical storage medium (e.g., CD-ROM); magneto-optical storage medium;read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); erasableprogrammable memory (e.g., EPROM and EEPROM); flash memory; or othertypes of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions.

As described, by utilizing one or more of the embodiments describedabove, the routing device system may route a collaboration conferencecommunication to an appropriate conference bridge based on any number ofpreferences or information about the requester and/or communicationnetwork. In one example, the routing device may employ one or morecontrol or state engines that monitor or maintain a status of thecollaboration conferences occurring over the network. The controlengines maintain information about each collaboration conference, suchas a master identification number for the conference, a status (such asactive, inactive, temporary, or unknown), the conference bridge on whichthe conference is hosted, a start time for the conference, a participantcount, a maximum participant count and a stop time for the conference,among other information. In general, the control engines may obtain orreceive any information about the conference and maintain a record ofthe information for use by the routing device system. As such, eachcontrol engine in the routing device may be connected to or otherwiseassociated with the conference bridges associated with thecommunications network to provide and receive information concerning thecollaboration conferences of the network. In one embodiment, the controlengines may be an application executed by the application server 408with the information or data stored in the database 404. The operationof the control engine in relation to the routing device is described inmore detail in U.S. Nonprovisional application Ser. No. 13/708,659titled “METHOD FOR ROUTING IN A CENTRAL CONFERENCING ROUTING SERVER,”which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

The routing device may utilize the information maintained by the controlengines to perform several of the functions related to the routing ofconference communications described above. For example, a requestreceived by the routing device to join an existing collaborationconference may be routed to the correct conference bridge by referringto the information stored by the control engines. As mentioned above,the control engines maintain a status of each conference and theconference bridge on which the conference occurs. With this information,the routing device may appropriately route any additional participantsto the correct conference bridge. Such information may also aid inrouting requests for a new collaboration conference to a suitableconference bridge, including based on network performance and userpreferences.

In one embodiment described above, the routing device routes theconference request to a conference bridge by requesting the conferencebridge for an available port on the bridge. If the conference request isa request to establish a collaboration conference, the request may befor a plurality of available ports to host the conference. Theallocation of available ports associated with the conference bridge forhosting the conference may be handled by a request from the routingdevice or by a control server associated with the conference bridge. Ineither case, available ports of the conference bridge may be madeavailable in response to the conference request. In other embodiments,selection of a conference bridge may be accomplished using domain namesystem (DNS) resolution techniques, such as round-robin selection orintelligent algorithms that take into location and/or proximityconsiderations (e.g., Anycast), load on the bridges, popularity or anyother known policy. Such techniques may either replace or supplement therouting protocols as part of the conference bridge selection process.

As mentioned above, the routing device system may include a plurality ofrouting devices or control engines executing on several applicationservers. As such, the network may determine a master control engineapplication to be executed on one of the routing devices that is taskedwith routing new collaboration conference requests. In one embodiment,the master control engine may be determined by connection criteria. Forexample, each control engine of the routing devices may maintain a totalnumber of bridges that are connected to all of the control engines withwhich the local control engine is communicating. In this embodiment, thecontrol engine that sees the highest total number of bridges is selectedas the master control engine and handles all collaboration conferencerequests. However, if more than one control engine sees the highesttotal number of bridge connections, the control engine with the highestnumber of local connections between the control engines with the highesttotal number is selected as the master control engine. If no singlecontrol engine is selected by the first two criteria, than a prioritizedsystem ID may be employed to select the master control engine. It shouldbe appreciated that this is but one example of a method for selectingthe master control engine and any method to select a master controlengine from the operating control engines may be employed. The use of amaster control engine to determine which conference bridge a newcollaboration conference is established may aid in preventing a splitconference being established on multiple bridges. Additionally, anycontrol engine of the routing device may act as the master controlengine based on any criteria, including the example mentioned above.Some delay may be incorporated into the switching the master controlengine from one engine to another to prevent bouncing from one engine toanother rapidly.

In addition to the master control engine feature, the routing devicesystem may also incorporate a priority table or list into a decisionprocess when determining which conference bridge to host thecollaboration conference. The information or data within the prioritytable may be stored in one or more databases of the routing device. Ingeneral, the priority list is associated with a customer number or otheridentifying number of a requester that lists one or more conferencebridges that may host a collaboration conference and a priorityassociated with each conference bridge in the list. For example, thepriority list for one customer may include three conference bridgesranked in order by the highest priority to the lower priority. In someembodiments, a plurality of conference bridges may be grouped into asingle priority group. Upon receipt of a request for a collaborationconference, the master control engine may identify the requester, accessthe priority list associated with the requester and select a conferencebridge based on the priority list. As discussed in more detail below,the priority of the conference bridges for any requester may be based onseveral criteria. The operation of the load balancing and priorityrouting in relation to the routing device is described in more detail inU.S. Nonprovisional application Ser. No. 13/708,678 titled “LOADBALANCING IN A CENTRAL CONFERENCING ROUTING SERVER,” which is herebyincorporated by reference herein.

In one example of such criteria, one or more conference bridges may beassigned a higher priority based on the geographical location of theconference bridge. For various reasons, a conference bridge located in aparticular area may be preferable for hosting a collaboration conferencefrom a particular requester. For example, a conference bridge locatednearer the requester may be preferable to one located a far distance asthe connection speed and clarity may be improved for a conference bridgelocated nearer the requester. In this situation, the priority list forthat requester may be updated or created to provide priority to theconference bridge near the requester such that, upon determining whichconference bridge to host the collaboration conference, the master stateengine may first consider the higher prioritized bridge.

Similarly, a higher priority may be given to a conference bridge thatprovides additionally requested features for the collaborationconference. For example, the customer to the network may request acollaboration conference occur in wideband audio or other features thatrequire an IP-based conference bridge. In this situation, an IP-basedconference bridge may be given a higher priority than non-IP-basedconference bridges in an attempt to meet the requests of the requester.Other priority criteria may be the size or other network requirements ofthe conference. For example, a requester may routinely request a highvolume conference such that the routing device may associate aconference bridge that handles larger conferences (conferences with moreparticipants) a higher priority for that particular requester. Ingeneral, however, any information or criteria may be considered when therouting device prepares the priority list associated with a requester.

Another advantage that the priority list provides is in the situationwhen a conference bridge is placed offline or suffers a failure. Forexample, a scheduled maintenance on one of the conference bridges may bedesired by a network administrator. Thus, conferences currently beinghosted on the conference bridge for repair may be maintained by therouting device, but new conferences may be directed to other conferencebridges in an effort to remove the conferences from the selectedconference bridge. To accomplish this, the routing device may remove theselected conference bridge from the priority lists for each requester.Thus, when a request is received and the routing device consults thepriority list for the requester, the selected bridge is not an availableoption. However, the master control engine may continue to directrequests for ongoing conferences to the proper conference bridge. Theoperation of disaster recovery in relation to the routing device isdescribed in more detail in U.S. Nonprovisional application Ser. No.13/708,689 titled “DISASTER RECOVERY WITH A CENTRAL CONFERENCING ROUTINGSERVER,” which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

The routing device may perform a similar operation when a conferencebridge enters a failure state. In this situation, the failed bridge maybe removed from the priority list for each requester. In addition, allrequests received by the routing device to join an existing conferencemay be sent to another conference bridge. However, this may create asituation where a conference is split between two conference bridges. Inthis situation, the routing device may generate a notice to a networkadministrator of the potential for a split conference so that theadministrator may direct each participant of the split conference to asingle, operating conference bridge. In some embodiments, the recoveryof a split conference into a united conference may be performedautomatically by the routing device upon detection. In addition, uponbringing the failed bridge back online, the routing device may throttlethe conferences placed on the bridge to prevent an overload of thebridge.

The routing device includes other features that may aid the network intransmitting collaboration conferences. For example, one embodiment ofthe routing device may route an internet or web connection that isassociated with the collaboration conference to the same conferencebridge that hosts the conference to maintain continuity between therelated web application and the conference. Further, the routing devicemay maintain a list of technical capabilities of each conference bridgeto ensure that particular technical requests are met. For example, oneof the conference bridges may operate using SIP or another IP-typeprotocol. Such conference bridges provide additional technical featuresover traditional TDM based conference bridges, such as high definitionaudio, video and audio combination and the like. Thus, in response to arequest for a collaboration conference to include particular technicalfeatures, the routing device may route the collaboration conference to aconference bridge that supports the technical features of theconference.

In one particular embodiment of the present disclosure, thetelecommunications network, more particularly a routing device withinthe network, obtains an identifier of a device requesting to join acollaboration conference and routes the device to a conference based atleast on the identifier. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method for atelecommunications network to route a request to join a collaborationsession based at least on an identifier of the requesting device.Although described below as being performed by a routing device withinthe network, the operations may be performed by any component or seriesof components of a telecommunications network. For example, theoperations may also be performed by a conferencing bridge of orassociated with the network.

In operation 702, the routing device receives an incoming request tojoin a collaboration conference from a communication device of thetelecommunications network. The request to join a conference is similarto those described above with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B. In addition,some telecommunication networks include a feature that allows thenetwork to identify a communication device that transmits a request tothe network. For example, a network may include an Automatic NumberIdentification (ANI) feature that includes an identifier of acommunication device (such as a telephone number) when a call istransmitted to the network. This feature may allow a subscriber to thefeature to obtain the telephone number of a calling party. Similarfeatures that allow identification of a calling device include a DialedNumber Identification Service (DNIS) and Calling Line Identification(CLI).

In addition to receiving the incoming request, the routing device alsoobtains an identifier of the requesting device in operation 702. Thus,in one example, the routing device obtains the telephone number of therequesting device utilizing the ANI feature of the network. Although theexamples described herein use the telephone number of the requestingdevice, in general any identifier of the requesting device may be used.For example, a text string included in a header from the requestingdevice may also be used to identify the requesting device. Any such typeof identifier of the requesting device may be used in the operationsdescribed below.

In operation 704, the routing device determines if the obtainedidentifier is associated with an account of the conferencing system. Inone instance, a participant to the conferencing system may not have anaccount with the system, but instead may be joining a conference that isset up by someone with an account. In such cases, the routing devicethen prompts the caller for an access code and/or passcode in operation706, as described above. Operation 706 is one embodiment discussed abovewith reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B. However, if the routing deviceassociates the obtained identifier with an account in the conferencingsystem, the operation of prompting the requester for an access codeand/or passcode may be bypassed.

To determine if the obtained identifier is associated with an account,the routing device may access a database of accounts associated with theconferencing system. The accounts stored in the database may include atelephone number or other identifier associated with the account. Forexample, one or more of the accounts may associate a primary telephonenumber of a requester, such as a cellular telephone number of worktelephone number of the requester with the account of that requester.Any number of identifiers may be associated with a particular account,such that a user's home telephone number, cellular telephone number,work telephone number, computer ID and the like that may aid inidentifier a user of the conferencing system. Thus, when an identifieris obtained, the routing device may compare the received identifier tothe identifiers stored in the database to attempt to associate theidentifier with an account and/or user of the conferencing system.

In addition to the identifiers, one or more conferencing preferences maybe associated with an account in the database. For example, a userassociated with the account may prefer to be the chairperson whenjoining a collaboration conference. Other service preferences may alsobe associated with the account, such as a quality of service,high-definition audio and/or video, conference bridge location, numberof allowed participants of a conference, and the like. In general, anyfeature, option or selection available for a collaboration conferencecan be a preference associated with an account and stored in thedatabase.

The information associated with any account of the conferencing systemand stored in the database may be collected or gathered by the routingdevice or network in any manner. For example, in one embodimentillustrated in FIG. 8 and discussed in more detail below, one or moreusers of the collaboration conference system may provide the identifyinginformation and/or conferencing preferences directly to the network,such as through a website or other user interface. In another embodimentalso discussed in more detail below, the network may be configured tocollect preferences, selections and options associated with a userduring one or more collaboration conferences in which the user takespart. In yet another embodiment, the network may interact or otherwisecommunicate with one or more programs utilized by the user to determinethe user's preferences. Regardless of the method by which the accountinformation is gathered or obtained, such information may be stored in adatabase accessible by the network in determining the routing of aparticipant to a collaboration conference hosted by the network.

In operation 710, the routing device of the network prompts to therequesting device to determine whether the requester wishes to join aspecific collaboration conference based on the account and preferencesassociated with the account. In one example, the routing device mayidentify a particular user based on the telephone number of therequesting device and prompt the user, perhaps through a messageprovided to the requesting device, to select whether the user prefers tojoin a conference set up by the user or to join another conference. Suchan example may arise in a networking system that does not storepreferences with the account, only an identifier of the requestingdevice. Through this identification, the system may determine aparticular user of the system and suggest to connect that user to aconference in the user's own account. In an embodiment where preferencesare stored in the database and utilized when prompting the user isdiscussed in more detail below.

Continuing the example of utilizing the identifying information of therequesting device to prompt the user, the routing device receives theuser's response in operation 712 and determines whether the user selectsto join a collaboration conference of the user's account or to joinanother collaboration conference. The user's response may be received,in one example, by the user pressing one or more buttons on therequesting device. This response is then transmitted to the routingdevice to indicate the user's selection. If the user selects to not joina collaboration conference of the user's account, the routing devicethan performs operation 706 and prompts the user for an access codeand/or passcode to connect the user to a collaboration conference.However, if the user selects to join a collaboration conference that isassociated with the user's account, the routing device authenticates androutes the user's requesting device to a conferencing bridge inoperation 714.

As can be appreciated, the operations of FIG. 7 operate such that therouting device can identify a requester to a collaboration conferenceand route the requester to a conference based on the requesting deviceidentifier. In this example, the routing device may not obtain an accesscode and/or passcode to route the user to a collaboration conference.Rather, the user may be routed to a collaboration conference based onthe requesting device identifier and a selection by the user to join aspecific collaboration conference based on the identifier. By utilizingthe identity of the requesting device to route the user to acollaboration conference, the network may reduce the number of promptsand responses transmitted between the requesting device and the routingdevice, thereby reducing the operational processing and cost of thenetwork.

In the example that has one or more preferences associated with theuser's account, the routing device may not only route the user to aspecific collaboration conference, but may also set up one or more ofthe features available for the conference. For example, one account ofthe conferencing system may prefer to utilize a high-definition audiofeature when attending a conference. Thus, upon receiving therequester's response in operation 712, the routing device may route theuser to a collaboration conference and set-up the high-definition audiofeature for the conference. In another embodiment, the routing devicemay query the user whether the high-definition audio feature should beestablished in the conference. Thus, when one or more preferences areassociated with the account, the routing device may apply thosepreferences to the conference or prompt the user as to whether suchpreferences should be applied to the conference. The prompting of theuser may occur during operation 712 and the application of the one ormore preferences to the conference may occur in operation 714. In thismanner, in addition to routing the user to a specific conference basedon the requesting device identifier, the routing device may also provideone or more preferred features of the conference to the user'sconference upon establishment of the collaboration conference.

As described above, the identifying information and/or one or morepreferences may be associated with an account of a user of theconferencing system. To obtain or receive such information, the network(or routing device) may perform the operations outlined in the flowchartin FIG. 8. The operations of FIG. 8 are but one method by which thenetwork may obtain or receive an identity of a requesting device and/orone or more preferences of a user of a network. Those of skill in theart will appreciate the many other methods by which such information maybe gathered. As explained above, this gathered information may be storedin one or more databases associated with the network and utilized whenrouting a requesting device to a collaboration conference.

Beginning in operation 802, the network receives user information. Moreparticularly, the network receives an identifier of a communicationdevice that is associated with the user and is connected to the network.For example, the communication device may be the user's work phone, homephone, cellular phone, laptop, personal digital assistant, and the like.In general, the identifier obtained in operation 802 may be a telephonenumber, text string or any other identifier of the communication deviceassociated with the user.

In addition, one or more collaboration conference preferences may bereceived in operation 802 from the user. As described above, acollaboration conference may include several features or options, suchas high definition audio or video, conference bridge locationpreference, service quality, chairperson preference and the like. One ormore of the options available to a user of the conferencing system maybe received by the network in operation 802 as a preference of the userfor collaboration conferences. Thus, similar to the identificationinformation, the one or more preferences for a particular user isreceived in operation 802.

The network may receive this information in any manner in whichinformation is provided to the network. For example, the user of thenetwork may access a website and provide said information. Once entered,this information may be transmitted to a component of the network forprocessing and storing. In another example, the information may beobtained from the user when the user signs up for the collaborationconferencing feature of the network. In yet another example, theinformation may be obtained from a third party website or database thatincludes information concerning the user. In one such instance, thenetwork may access a program or website through which the user storesidentifiers, preferences, calendar dates and events, and the like andincorporate that information into the network to determine the user'spreferences and/or identifying information. For example, the network mayhave access to a calendar feature on the user's desktop or laptopcomputer and utilize the information stored therein to determine apreference for the user.

In operation 804, the network associates the obtained identifiers and/orpreferences with an account of the conferencing system associated withthe user. For example, each subscriber of the collaboration conferencemay have an account number assigned to that subscriber by the network.Thus, the network associates the obtained information with the accountnumber of the user. The network may also store the information in one ormore databases associated with the network along with or associated withthe user's account information. By storing the information with theuser's account information, the network may access the information whenthe user is identified by the system, as explained in more detail above.

In addition to obtaining and storing the identifying information and/orthe one or more preferences, the network may also update the informationassociated with any account. In operation 806, the network logs anyselections or information received by the network associated with theaccount. For example, through an access code and/or passcode received bythe network, the network may recognize that a particular user with anaccount is accessing the collaboration conferencing feature. The networkmay also obtain a telephone number associated with a communicationdevice that the user is utilizing to access the network. With thisinformation, the network may store the telephone number as an identifierof the user's account with the user's account information. In a similarmanner, the network may store any selections made by the user during theconference as preferences of the user when utilizing the conferencingfeature. This information may then be associated with the user's accountfor later use by the network in routing the user to a conference.

Similarly, the network may log the date and time that the user accessedthe network and the one or more selections were made in operation 808and update one or more preferences associated with the user's account inoperation 810. For example, the network logs that a particularlyidentified user as accessing a particular conference, with one or moreconference preferences, at a date and time. This information may aid thenetwork in selecting which options are prompted to the user whenaccessing the conferencing feature. For example, the network may promptthe user, upon a receipt from the user to join a conference, to select aconference and/or one of more preferences based on the date and timethat the request is received. In particular, the network may assume thatthe user, if a pattern of joining the same conference with the samepreferences occurs routinely at the same or similar date and time, thatthe user intends to join that specific conference. In this manner, thedate and time information may be gathered and utilized by the network indetermining the identity of a user and one or more preferences for acollaboration conference that the user may desire.

Similarly, as mentioned above, the network may have access to one ormore computers or programs associated with a user. In one example, theprogram contains an indication of a collaboration conference event ofwhich the user may be a part. In particular, the program may be acalendar feature or application that the user utilizes to storecollaboration conference meeting times and information. Thisinformation, due to the access granted to the network, is gathered andused in selecting the one or more preferences offered to the user duringset-up of the conference. For example, the information may indicate thatthe user is to join a particular conference at a particular time. If arequest to join a conference is received by the network from arequesting device associated with the user, the network may prompt theuser to join the particular conference as indicated by the informationin the calendar program. Thus, by using the stored information, thenetwork may bypass prompting for and obtaining an access code and/orpasscode for a conference and connect the user directly to a conferencebased on the information stored in the program. In this manner, theinformation gathered through the method of FIG. 8 may includeinformation obtained from one or more programs or devices associatedwith the user that aids the network in identifying the one or morepreferences for a collaboration conference for the user.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include various steps, which aredescribed in this specification. The steps may be performed by hardwarecomponents or may be embodied in machine-executable instructions, whichmay be used to cause a general-purpose or special-purpose processorprogrammed with the instructions to perform the steps. Alternatively,the steps may be performed by a combination of hardware, software and/orfirmware.

The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the invention.Various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments willbe apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings herein.It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be ableto devise numerous systems, arrangements and methods which, although notexplicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of theinvention and are thus within the spirit and scope of the presentinvention. From the above description and drawings, it will beunderstood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the particularembodiments shown and described are for purposes of illustrations onlyand are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.References to details of particular embodiments are not intended tolimit the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A telecommunications network comprising: at leastone conference bridge; and at least one routing device configured to:receive a communication from a user of the telecommunications network,the communication comprising a request to access a collaborationconference; obtain an identifier of a communication device associatedwith the telecommunications network and the user; associate theidentifier with an account of the user maintained by thetelecommunications network, the account configured to include one ormore identifiers of the user and one or more collaboration conferencepreferences; identify a specific collaboration conference event based onthe account and the one or more collaboration conference preferencesassociated with the account; and connect the communication device to thespecific collaboration conference event based on the account and the oneor more collaboration conference preferences associated with theaccount.
 2. The telecommunications network of claim 1 wherein theidentifier is a telephone number associated with the communicationdevice.
 3. The telecommunications network of claim 2 wherein the atleast one routing device obtains the telephone number through anAutomatic Number Identification (ANI) feature of the telecommunicationsnetwork.
 4. The telecommunications network of claim 1 wherein thespecific collaboration conference event comprises the user as achairperson of the collaboration conference event.
 5. Thetelecommunication network of claim 1 wherein the at least one routingdevice is further configured to: transmit a first prompt to thecommunication device to select the specific collaboration conferenceevent; receive a response to the prompt from the communication device;and in the event that the response to the prompt received from thecommunication device is a first type of response, transmit a secondprompt to the communication device requesting entry of an access codeassociated with the user.
 6. The telecommunications network of claim 1wherein the identifier is a text string associated with thecommunication device, the text string included in a header of thecommunication from the user.
 7. The telecommunications network of claim1 wherein the specific collaboration conference event is further basedon the one or more collaboration conference preferences included in theaccount of the user.
 8. A system for initiating a collaborationconference in a telecommunications network, the system comprising: anetwork interface unit configured to receive a first communication froma user of a communications network to establish a collaborationconference on the network, the first communication received from acommunication device associated with the communications network; anapplication server in communication with the network interface unit; anda computer-readable medium connected to the application serverconfigured to store information and instructions that, when executed bythe application server, performs the operations of: obtaining anidentifier of the first communication device associated with thecommunications network, the identifier comprising a telephone number ofthe communication device from which the request is received; associatingthe identifier with an account of the user, the account configured toassociate the identifier and one or more collaboration conferencepreferences with the user; establishing a specific collaborationconference event based at least on the account and the one or morecollaboration conference preferences associated with the account; andconnecting the communication device to the specific collaborationconference event based at least on the account and the one or morecollaboration conference preferences associated with the account.
 9. Thesystem of claim 8 wherein the application server obtains the telephonenumber through an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) feature of thecommunications network.
 10. The system of claim 8 wherein the one ormore preferences includes at least one of high definition audio, highdefinition video, conference bridge location or a specific quality ofservice.
 11. The system of claim 8 wherein the application serverfurther performs the operations of: transmitting a first prompt to thecommunication device to select the specific collaboration conferenceevent; receive a response to the prompt from the communication device;and in the event that the response to the prompt received from thecommunication device is a first type of response, transmit a secondprompt to the communication device requesting entry of an access codeassociated with the user.
 12. The system of claim 8 wherein theapplication server further performs the operations of: receiving thetelephone number of the communication device from the user through auser interface; and storing the telephone number in the account of theuser as an identifier of the user.
 13. The system of claim 12 whereinthe application server further performs the operations of: receiving theone or more collaboration conference preferences from the user; andstoring the one or more collaboration conference preferences in theaccount of the user.
 14. The system of claim 8 wherein the applicationserver further performs the operations of: logging a date and time of asecond communication received from the communication device, the secondcommunication configured to request to join a particular collaborationconference event; and storing the date and time of the secondcommunication in the account of the user.
 15. The system of claim 14wherein the application server further performs the operations of:logging one or more collaboration conference selections received fromthe user through the communication device; and storing the one or morecollaboration conference selections as the one or more collaborationconference preferences in the account of the user.
 16. The system ofclaim 13 wherein the receiving the one or more collaboration conferencepreferences from the user operation comprises accessing a programassociated with the user, the program including the one or morecollaboration conference preferences.
 17. A method for initiating acollaboration conference in a telecommunications network comprising:receiving a request message for access to a collaboration conferencefrom a requester's communication device; obtaining an identifier of therequester's communication device, the identifier comprising a telephonenumber of the requester's communication device from which the request isreceived and obtained through an Automatic Number Identification (ANI)feature of the communications network; associating the identifier withan account of the requester, the account configured to include one ormore identifiers of the requester and one or more collaborationconference preferences and to associate the identifier with therequester; initiating a specific collaboration conference event based atleast on the account and the one or more collaboration conferencepreferences associated with the account; and connecting the requester'scommunication device to the specific collaboration conference eventbased at least on the account and the one or more collaborationconference preferences associated with the account.
 18. The method ofclaim 17 further comprising: transmitting a first prompt to therequester's communication device, the first prompt configured to elicita selection of the specific collaboration conference event; and receivea response to the prompt from the requester's communication device. 19.The method of claim 18 further comprising: retrieving one or morecollaboration conference preferences associated with the account of therequester; and applying the one or more collaboration conferencepreferences to the specific collaboration conference event.
 20. Thetelecommunications network of claim 1 wherein the at least oneconference bridge or the at least one routing device executes anapplication configured to: retrieve an access code number from therequester or the identity of a requesting device; and connect therequester's communication device based at least on the access codenumber or the requesting device identity.
 21. The system of claim 8wherein the application server further performs the operations of:retrieving an access code number from the requester or the identity of arequesting device; and connecting the requester's communication devicebased at least on the access code number or the requesting deviceidentity.
 22. The method of claim 17 further comprising: retrieving anaccess code number from the requester or the identity of a requestingdevice; and connecting the requester's communication device based atleast on the access code number or the requesting device identity.